IABC Barbados

No more candy floss for communication: employees want meat and potatoes, says a local corporate communication consultant with 30 years of experience in employee communication.

“If we truly want to engage our employees and tap into their productivity, we need to change the menu of what passes for employee communication,” says Richard Thomas, vice president of professional development for the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) Barbados.

“Our employees need a diet of information that is suitable for grownups, not children.  They need to eat from the same information plate as management,” he told a group of corporate communication and PR professionals at a recent IABC meeting.

Thomas told the group that communication professionals have a major role to play in encouraging management to change the menu.  “You have to convince your CEO and senior executives that employees can be far more productive and involved in the business if they understand what its strategies and goals are, and what issues it is facing, particularly in the marketplace.”

He said there are still too few employees who know where their companies are going, what issues it is facing and how they can help.  Management gets frustrated because the company can’t implement change and respond to challenges as fast as they would like, he added.

“If we want employees to appreciate what management is grappling with, to develop a sense of urgency, and support the decisions that are being made, we need to share the big picture,” Thomas said.  “It is no longer enough to tell people what they have to do; you have to explain why.”

Thomas told the group of communicators they must lead this process in their companies by developing communication content that is issues-based rather than event-driven, and which helps employees to easily see the connection between the demands of the marketplace and the work they do.

“To make this happen, you need to go to your senior executives and say ‘I can help this company produce communication that will focus employees’ attention on the business, gain their support for decisions you make, and earn their trust in the bargain, but I can’t do it without your genuine support and your participation ’,” he said.